Being human makes us take a lot of things for granted, makes us get very lax about a lot of things. It is actually one of the reasons why when we are installing software and we get to the “Terms and Conditions” part our first instinct is to click “agree”. We can’t wait; we are in a hurry to begin to enjoy the benefits of what we have just acquired.
Nobody has time to be reading this one jare
We get away with this 99 out of 100 times. But in that odd moment something goes wrong as a result of a clause in the document we signed without reason, the consequences could be very dire. Sometimes even life-threatening.
Read, Then Sign: Contracts Can Come Back To Haunt
Terms and Condition is a contract, an agreement, and the refusal to use a fine comb to review it, with or without expert guidance, has landed a lot of people in very difficult situations.
Here on Filterfree, as part of the thankless service we offer to the music industry, we have shed some light on contract issues as they affect artists. We have written about types of contracts, and we have also written about the other side of the story of contracts.
Your intellectual property should be your exclusive preserve, and you should be in a position to determine how much of it you want to give out, and at what cost.
So what is Intellectual Property (IP)?
The World Intellectual Property Organization, WIPO, defines it as:
..creations of the mind, such as inventions; literary and artistic works; designs; and symbols, names and images used in commerce.
So dear musician, your work is IP and it is protected by law in most, if not all, jurisdictions on earth. It is a legal entity.
Lawyers spend five years in the university and top it up with another gruelling year at the Law School. Some even go to the extent of acquiring a Masters Degree, where they specialize in particular areas of the law. Intellectual Property Law is one of them.
According to HG.org:
Intellectual property law deals with the rules for securing and enforcing legal rights to inventions, designs, and artistic works. Just as the law protects ownership of personal property and real estate, so too does it protect the exclusive control of intangible assets.
IP Lawyers studied hard to make sure creatives do not fall victim to overexcitement or greed. These are the people every up and coming artiste should “buy” first. Not a Range Rover for godsakes!!
Bros, leave Range first
An Intellectual Property lawyer is the man or woman who will help you peruse that new contract with a fine comb, dig up the landmines and nuclear bombs and save you from a life of “had I known”.
So before you get carried away by the offer of a Range Rover (yes, I am mentioning this beauty of a beast again, I want one), an apartment in Lekki, and a new life of popping things, glitz and glamour on the red carpet, a life of musical videos in South Africa, filled with beautiful vixens with booties that are shaped like puff-puff and oscillate like jello or hunks so built that your ovaries actually reach out for them, don’t forget one thing – Contact an IP lawyer. Lawyers are not leeches, the law could save your life. Use them.
The law is not asleep
Even if the record label execs try to dissuade you from doing so, remember, it is a dog-eat-dog world. Players are in the industry to do business and grab as much as they can from the bread. If you are not wise, one day you might be sorry. As sorry as Skales, Runtown, or DJ Zeez are at the moment.
Right now I am feeling generous, so I will recommend a few IP Lawyers for you, very good ones, you can contact them via Twitter, just in case – @MTechLaw, @kaycee4c, @somxpression and @TexTheLaw. Those are just a few. IP lawyers (in fact lawyers) are actually legion.
Remember, Ten Million Pounds Sterling is not beans. It makes Ten Million Naira feel like cowries that moment when you realize you have been kobo-kobo-wise, Naira foolish, and you have just played yourself.